1. Call to Order: Jennifer Dunnam
Jennifer Dunnam, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 1:04 Eastern. The following board members were in attendance:
Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Chair
Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress (NLS), Vice Chair
Dawn Gross, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Secretary
Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer
Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Immediate Past Chair
Sandra (Sandy) Ruconich, American Council of the Blind (ACB)
Guy Toles, AMAC (Accessibility Solutions and Research Center)
Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)
Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER)
Whitney Gregory, Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center
Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)
Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Vivian Seki, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind
Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)
Jackie Sheridan, National Braille Press (NBP)
Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind
Jen Goulden, associate member Crawford Technologies
Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.
Not attending:
Diane Bergeron, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)
2. Welcome and Self-Introductions
Roll call of the Board members served as self-introductions.
Jennifer Dunnam announced that Vivian Seki has become a contractor for Hadley and will be stepping down as the representative for Hadley. She will remain the representative to BANA until Hadley appoints a new representative. Jennifer thanked Vivian for her service.
3. Agenda Review
Jennifer Dunnam presented the agenda, a report from the Outreach Committee will be given between 8. Reminder from Nominating Committee and 9. Committee appointments.
MSC Kim Charlson moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion that the agenda be approved as amended. The motion passed unanimously.
4. Arrangements/Planning for Fall Meeting
Tina Seger emailed information to BANA-l regarding the upcoming fall meeting to be hosted by Clovernook November 7-9, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thursday and Friday are scheduled as full days, Saturday as a half day. The meeting will be held at the hotel.
Jennifer Dunnam briefly discussed the Spring 2020 meeting to be held March 19-21, 2020 in Baltimore, MD at the NFB headquarters. Thursday and Friday will be scheduled as full days, and Saturday will be a half day.
5. Documents-in-process Updates
a. Foreign Language Guidance
Jen Goulden and Jennifer Dunnam met with Rebecca Sherwood to ensure that the principles laid out by the Board for the Foreign Language Guidance will be kept in place. When they meet again on September 10th, Rebecca will have completed an outline of the proposed work. Jen will follow up between now and then to ensure that the work remains on track.
b. Nemeth Code, including face-to-face meeting
Dawn Gross reported on the results of the teleconference between Jennifer Dunnam, Mary Nelle McLennan, the committee and herself. The committee has held bi-weekly Zoom meetings since the conference call. The face to face meeting is scheduled for September 30-October 4, 2019 in Bloomington, Minnesota. She also expressed concern that the committee may exceed the $6000 approved for the face to face meeting.
GC The budget of $6000 is a guideline, the committee will do its best to stay within $6000.
Jen Goulden will be the Publications Committee liaison to the Nemeth Code Committee during the rewrite process.
Dorothy Worthington has submitted errors found in Example 5 of the Graphing Calculator Guidelines. The example is not in line with Example 9 which shows similar material, she is requesting that the simbraille and the description to line 1 be corrected. The following motions resulted:
MSC Tina Seger moved and Dawn Gross seconded the motion to charge the Nemeth Committee to work with the Publications Committee to make a revised version of the Graphing Calculator Guidelines for the purpose of correcting errors. The motion passed unanimously.
MSC Tina Seger moved and Jessi Rivera seconded the motion to charge the Publications Committee to work with Nemeth Committee to make a revised version of the Graphing Calculator Guidelines for the purpose of correcting errors. The motion passed unanimously.
c. Early Literacy Materials Production
Cathy Senft-Graves reported that permission to use the math examples was received in May. The braille files have been proofread but it has been determined that more alt-tags and transcribers notes are needed in both the print and braille files to make the images accessible. Once the final files are ready, Cathy will send a Dropbox folder link to the Board and make a motion for approval.
d. Chemistry
FM D'Andrea reported that the Chemistry Committee is getting started on the revision. The requested teleconference between the committee, Jennifer Dunnam, FM D'Andrea, and Brenda Lockery was held, the committee was able to ask practical questions about the technical aspects of working on files. The committee will meet again in September.
The committee is in need of an additional member, a request will be made to the Appointments Committee.
e. Others with updates
None
6. Awards Committee
Sandy Ruconich reported that Jane Thompson has accepted appointment to the Awards Committee replacing Debbie Willis. At the present time, two nominations have been received for the Darleen Bogart Award for Braille Excellence (presented by the Braille Authority of North America). The committee will meet at the end of August to determine the recipient and make a motion to the Board to be voted on via email. The reward will be presented at the Getting in Touch with Literacy conference.
7. Formats 2.3.6e
With the U.S. adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty it has been suggested that the language used on title pages according to Braille Formats 2.3.6e be revised. Cathy Senft-Graves put together the material sent to BANA-l for discussion. The following motion resulted:
MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Tamara Rorie seconded the motion to charge the Braille Formats Technical Committee to revise ยง2.3.6e of Braille Formats working with the APH Intellectual Property and Rights Manager and NLS, to bring language in alignment with current copyright law by the Fall meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Once the wording has been established a press release will be sent out.
8. Reminder from Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee worked on the slate of officers prior to the Spring 2019 meeting, Toronto, Canada. In accordance to the Bylaws, the slate will be announced before the Fall meeting. The committee will request that new members be appointed to the committee at the Fall meeting.
9. Outreach Committee Update
10. Committee Appointments
The Chemistry Committee will need a new member.
11. Update on Options for Migrating BANA Web site
Jackie Sheridan
12. Report from Strategic Implementation Groups
Mary Nelle McLennan
13. ICEB Update
The General Assembly will be held in May 2020 in London. The U.S. delegation and budget will be determined at the Fall meeting.
The vote to add the word "DeafBlind" to the shortform list is due. Jennifer Dunnam will vote in favor of adding "DeafBlind" to the shortform list provided that any underlying concerns will be resolved.
14. Other Business
No other business at this time.
15. Adjourn
MSC Sandy Ruconich moved and Jessi Rivera seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Jennifer Dunnam adjourned the meeting at 2:47 Eastern.
Respectfully submitted,
Dawn Gross, Secretary